yesterday in one of his first communications to the colleagues since the election, paul ryan came out very strongly in favor of tom price. suggesting that the -- if tom price wins then paul ryan, his credibility is sort of juiced, will go up in terms of his influence on -- on the republican conference. if price wins it might signal a more conservative, hard-edged bent to the republicans. if mcmorris rodgers wins, it might signal the leadership is starting to get this house in order and wanting to moderate some -- at least its approach. host: hear from chris, republican caller, joining us from round lake, illinois. good morning. chris: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question here. as a fiscal cliff comes and you are discussing what to do with it, with social security and medicare, i was wondering why the public employees in congress and senators don't pay into that system, why they are eliminated from it. host: we are running out of time before the house comes in. our caller bringing up one of the many issues that we'll be addressing as we watch the lame duck sess